WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.379 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:10.980 Sermons and Happy Thanksgiving! Even though there 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.560 seems to be lots that we can be grateful for, 00:00:13.660 --> 00:00:16.800 for our family, for food, for housing, sometimes 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.640 it's really hard to be thankful. There's also 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.179 lots that seems to be going wrong. So what do 00:00:23.179 --> 00:00:25.800 we do in those times when it's really hard and 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.440 we don't know how to practice gratitude? That's 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:31.140 what Rob is going to talk to us a little bit 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:44.100 about in today's sermon. is from 1 Thessalonians 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:50.500 5, verses 16 to 24. Be joyful always, never stop 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:53.479 praying, and everything give thanks. This is 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:56.159 what God wants you to do because of Christ Jesus. 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:00.479 Do not try to stop the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:03.679 Do not laugh at those who speak for God. Test 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:07.799 everything, and do not let good things get away 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.400 from you. Keep away from everything that even 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.950 looks like sin. May the God of peace set you 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:17.390 apart for himself. May every part of you be set 00:01:17.390 --> 00:01:19.989 apart for God. May your spirit and your soul 00:01:19.989 --> 00:01:22.969 and your body be kept complete. May you be without 00:01:22.969 --> 00:01:25.250 blame when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 00:01:25.730 --> 00:01:28.109 The one who called you is faithful and he will 00:01:28.109 --> 00:01:31.810 do what is promised. The word of the Lord. Two 00:01:31.810 --> 00:01:34.849 summers ago, our family took a trip to Prince 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:37.629 Edward Island. And while we were at Prince Edward 00:01:37.629 --> 00:01:40.390 Island, our trip happened to coincide with the 00:01:40.390 --> 00:01:43.750 same time that Charlottetown holds its annual 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:46.950 Big Fall Fair, which is called Old Home Week. 00:01:47.170 --> 00:01:51.590 And part of that event is that there is a whole 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:55.049 bunch of horse races that happen at the end of 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.510 this fair. So we hung out at the fair, but then 00:01:57.510 --> 00:01:59.730 toward the end of the night, we said, well, why 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:02.609 not? Why don't we go? check out the horse races 00:02:02.609 --> 00:02:05.650 here at the fair. And so we stuck around, and 00:02:05.650 --> 00:02:07.950 in order to kind of make things a little bit 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:12.169 interesting, I gave each of the kids a toonie. 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:15.909 And I said that they could place very small bets 00:02:15.909 --> 00:02:19.090 on the horses. And again, I'm not condoning gambling 00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:23.229 in any way, shape, or form. But I said, you know, 00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:25.789 and what we generally did, I don't know, is there 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:27.729 a slide there? Do we have a slide there, Liz, 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:30.870 to get us started? What we did was we usually 00:02:30.870 --> 00:02:33.169 picked the horses that had like pretty good odds 00:02:33.169 --> 00:02:35.090 to win. You look in the program, oh, this horse 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:37.409 is supposed to win two to one odds, right? And 00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:40.830 so we made pretty safe bets throughout the night. 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:43.650 say that even though we picked the horses that 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:45.310 were supposed to win, we still ended up losing 00:02:45.310 --> 00:02:48.750 most of the time. And it got down to, I mean, 00:02:48.770 --> 00:02:51.250 sometimes we won, but we got down to the end. 00:02:51.289 --> 00:02:53.449 Well, really, we were down to our very last toonie. 00:02:53.710 --> 00:02:56.469 And so we said, you know what, let's do one more. 00:02:56.550 --> 00:02:59.650 But this time, let's not pick a horse that, you 00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:02.030 know, is supposed to win. Let's pick one of the 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:04.449 long shots. So we started looking to the program. 00:03:04.669 --> 00:03:07.229 It was the seventh race. We were flipping through 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:10.389 and we found our horse. It was the number six 00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:14.789 horse. And the odds of it winning at the time 00:03:14.789 --> 00:03:17.509 were five to one, five to one. So we thought, 00:03:17.569 --> 00:03:20.469 oh, that's pretty cool. If we put $2 down on 00:03:20.469 --> 00:03:22.909 this horse and the horse happened to win, that 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:26.150 means we'd get a payout of $10, which sounded 00:03:26.150 --> 00:03:29.830 pretty good. So that was a good idea. And plus, 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:32.389 you know, we actually also really liked the name 00:03:32.389 --> 00:03:35.569 of this horse. The horse had this name, Counter 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:38.969 Currency. counter currency we thought oh that 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:41.650 sounds so so sweet right so so we went up to 00:03:41.650 --> 00:03:44.129 the voting truck and we put down our toonie and 00:03:44.129 --> 00:03:47.469 we said put it all on counter currency and printed 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:49.770 out the little bedding slip and then we ran back 00:03:49.770 --> 00:03:52.490 to the track side right where the finish line 00:03:52.490 --> 00:03:54.349 is we want it we didn't want to miss a second 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:57.030 of the action of this very last race now I want 00:03:57.030 --> 00:03:58.810 to tell you that I told you that counter currency 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.580 Oh, by the way, it was actually harness racing, 00:04:01.699 --> 00:04:04.379 not like horse racing, harness racing. Counter 00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:09.280 currency started at 5 to 1 odds. But as people 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:11.560 make bets and as you get closer to post time, 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.099 the odds change. And there's a big scoreboard 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:15.520 in the field that tells you what the odds are 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.279 on your horse. Well, over the minutes that followed, 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:22.259 counter currency went from 5 to 1 to 8 to 1 to 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:28.300 10 to 1 to 12 to 1, 15 to 1. When the race began, 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.160 the odds... odds of counter currency winning 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.639 were 15 to one, which meant two things. One, 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.019 we're probably the only people in Charlottetown 00:04:35.019 --> 00:04:38.620 who voted or who bet on counter currency winning. 00:04:38.779 --> 00:04:41.279 And secondly, if counter currency were to win, 00:04:41.540 --> 00:04:46.439 then we would take home a whopping purse of $30 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.610 based on our $2 bet. Of course, we didn't have 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:53.889 much hope. We didn't have much hope. Here's a 00:04:53.889 --> 00:04:57.509 shot of the girls. This is after the first lap. 00:04:57.649 --> 00:05:00.029 Now there's two laps on this half mile track. 00:05:00.209 --> 00:05:01.769 So this is these little horses coming around 00:05:01.769 --> 00:05:04.410 after the first lap. And I'm going to zoom in 00:05:04.410 --> 00:05:06.750 to show you where counter currency is. Counter 00:05:06.750 --> 00:05:11.990 currency there. Running dead last as predicted. 00:05:12.209 --> 00:05:15.870 No surprise. No surprise. And obviously not a 00:05:15.870 --> 00:05:18.050 lot of thankfulness. Thinking of Thanksgiving. 00:05:18.230 --> 00:05:20.529 Not a lot of gratitude at this moment in our 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:23.189 hearts. But just when we were getting ready to 00:05:23.189 --> 00:05:25.910 rip up our bedding slip. Just when we were getting 00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:27.910 ready to call it a night and get out of there 00:05:27.910 --> 00:05:30.370 before the traffic. I got to tell you something. 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:32.389 Something happened. I don't know what it was. 00:05:32.689 --> 00:05:36.209 The planets aligned. The universe shifted. The 00:05:36.209 --> 00:05:39.069 fates smiled on us. don't know but something 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:42.269 happened that no one could have predicted counter 00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:47.990 currency started to make her move she moved from 00:05:47.990 --> 00:05:51.970 the seven position dead last to the six position 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:55.980 And then she moved from the sixth position to 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:59.300 the fifth position. And then now they were getting 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:01.480 onto the far side of the field. Again, the last 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:04.040 lap, we couldn't really see so well what was 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.180 going on, but we could hear the announcer. The 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:09.860 announcer, counter currency. Advancing on the 00:06:09.860 --> 00:06:13.680 outside, it's counter currency. Now in fourth, 00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:16.199 I can still hear the name. And then as they rounded 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.819 the final bend and they were in the home stretch, 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.120 I realized, oh my gosh, this is going to be amazing. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:23.939 We're going to make history. I pulled out my 00:06:23.939 --> 00:06:26.740 camera and I said, we got to catch this amazing 00:06:26.740 --> 00:06:29.139 finish. And I'm going to show you that finish 00:06:29.139 --> 00:06:31.879 right now. And I want to just apologize in advance 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.779 for my ridiculous screaming. I got way, way too 00:06:35.779 --> 00:06:39.379 carried away in this moment. But here is the 00:06:39.379 --> 00:07:03.329 finish. It was an unbelievable moment. That little 00:07:03.329 --> 00:07:10.470 horse that no one believed in, true to her name, 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:13.910 went against the current and came out on top 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:17.189 of the field. And here's a picture of counter 00:07:17.189 --> 00:07:20.449 currency in the winner's circle. And as you can 00:07:20.449 --> 00:07:22.449 see from the look on Petra's face, there was 00:07:22.449 --> 00:07:26.009 a lot of joy. There was a lot of gratitude. There 00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:28.730 was a lot of thanksgiving. She asked me not to 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:30.990 dwell on this slide too long. So I'm going to 00:07:30.990 --> 00:07:33.589 move to the next slide. But the point is, we 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:37.149 ran up to the voting truck afterwards. And, you 00:07:37.149 --> 00:07:39.430 know, we placed our little betting slip down 00:07:39.430 --> 00:07:42.829 there. And they gave us $30 of cold, hard cash. 00:07:43.370 --> 00:07:47.689 And we took that $30 and we went straight to 00:07:47.689 --> 00:07:50.769 Wendy's. Because there was a Wendy's with it. 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:52.949 You could see it from the track. And we went 00:07:52.949 --> 00:07:55.750 over there. And we've shot the works. We blew 00:07:55.750 --> 00:08:00.509 it all on frosties and fries and stuff like that 00:08:00.509 --> 00:08:04.550 to celebrate our historic win. Now, what is this 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:06.490 story even about? Well, for some reason, this 00:08:06.490 --> 00:08:08.629 week, as I was thinking about Thanksgiving, the 00:08:08.629 --> 00:08:10.970 name of that horse, counter currency, just came 00:08:10.970 --> 00:08:13.689 to my mind again and again and again. Because 00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:15.430 if you think about what does counter currency 00:08:15.430 --> 00:08:19.019 mean? It means going against the flow. And in 00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:21.360 a culture like ours, the currency of a culture 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.019 like ours is, you know, power and wealth and 00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:29.500 influence. And to go counter to that, to be counter 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:32.820 currency, is to move in the opposite direction 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:36.019 of all of those things. And today on Thanksgiving 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:39.659 Sunday, I want to suggest to you that is precisely 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:45.419 what Christian gratitude is all about. gratitude 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:51.340 runs counter to our culture. See, society runs 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:54.600 this way, runs on comparing and competing and 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:58.100 complaining and consuming. Society runs this 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:00.419 way and says, you know, you don't have enough, 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:04.019 you need more. Society wants to break us all 00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:08.649 down into winners and losers. But counter currency 00:09:08.649 --> 00:09:11.529 running counter gratitude runs in the opposite 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:15.509 direction and gratitude says no no no we can 00:09:15.509 --> 00:09:20.309 be grateful and we can trust in god's grace giving 00:09:20.309 --> 00:09:23.870 us everything that we need now that kind of gratitude 00:09:24.620 --> 00:09:26.679 is actually pretty hard to come by when you think 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:28.559 about it in our culture. It was also pretty hard 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.620 to come by in Paul's culture. Paul, who wrote 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:34.179 this letter to the church in the city of Thessalonica 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:37.379 2 ,000 years ago. People there in that city, 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.440 they were not unlike us. They too were trying 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:42.480 to get ahead. They too were trying to climb the 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:46.100 ladder, trying to win the race. And in those 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:51.700 days, in Thessalonica, there was this thing called 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.480 the patronage system. And the patronage system 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.320 basically worked this way. That if you wanted 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:00.039 to get a job, or if you wanted to get a loan, 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:03.080 or if you needed help in any way, then you had 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:06.299 to basically suck up to the rich people. You 00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:09.879 had to suck up to the powerful people of your 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:14.399 day. And so for that reason, gratitude wasn't 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.659 so much. about being spontaneous it was about 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:20.340 being very strategic right you might say oh thank 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:22.019 you thank you thank you you're the greatest you're 00:10:22.019 --> 00:10:24.019 the best but what you were really trying to do 00:10:24.019 --> 00:10:27.340 is butter them up right you weren't you weren't 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:29.100 that because they might give you a favor later 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:31.679 on right you weren't necessarily feeling grateful 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.600 in fact you were just trying to survive right 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:39.659 and in those days life really was like a horse 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:41.700 race if you were one of the few people in that 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:44.000 culture who won then great you might be grateful 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:47.940 but most everybody lost in those days and so 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:50.879 real gratitude was pretty hard to come by it 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:54.399 was the counter currency of that day as well 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.460 now what i want to say is into that culture 2 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.740 000 years ago in thessalonica and into our culture 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:05.570 in 21st century mississauga paul said some pretty 00:11:05.570 --> 00:11:08.990 radical words here's what he says he says rejoice 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:13.870 when you win no let me read that again rejoice 00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:17.830 when everything works out for you no rejoice 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:22.169 when you come in first place no he just says 00:11:22.169 --> 00:11:26.909 rejoice always Pray continually, give thanks 00:11:26.909 --> 00:11:31.269 in all circumstances for this is the will of 00:11:31.269 --> 00:11:35.190 God in Christ Jesus for you. In other words, 00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:39.509 Paul is saying, go against the current, go against 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:44.409 the flow, rejoice, just rejoice, pray and give 00:11:44.409 --> 00:11:49.490 thanks. And what Paul is proposing here is this 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:54.639 type of gratitude that isn't based on luck. It's 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.200 not based on hard work. It's a gratitude that's 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.379 not based on your accomplishments or what someone 00:11:59.379 --> 00:12:02.620 did for you, but it's based solely on the grace 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:07.669 of God. It's a gratitude that does not come from 00:12:07.669 --> 00:12:10.149 what is happening around us. It's a gratitude 00:12:10.149 --> 00:12:14.429 that comes from what God has done for us. And 00:12:14.429 --> 00:12:17.529 that kind of gratitude, man, that kind of gratitude, 00:12:17.590 --> 00:12:19.429 you can live by that kind of gratitude. You are 00:12:19.429 --> 00:12:22.149 going against the current of culture. In fact, 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:26.450 N .T. Wright says to live that way is almost 00:12:26.450 --> 00:12:30.470 to live in a whole new world, right? Christian 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:35.090 gratitude isn't based on luck. Thank you. It 00:12:35.090 --> 00:12:39.210 is based on grace. And I mentioned N .T. Wright. 00:12:39.389 --> 00:12:42.429 He said this. He said, where was it? Where's 00:12:42.429 --> 00:12:44.210 my N .T. Wright quote? There it is. When Paul 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:47.289 urged the Thessalonians to give thanks in all 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:49.389 circumstances, he was calling them to live like 00:12:49.389 --> 00:12:52.350 a brand new world. It's a world where grace, 00:12:52.370 --> 00:12:56.470 not fate, not luck was in charge, and where gratitude 00:12:56.470 --> 00:13:01.629 replaced anxiety as the true source of faith. 00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:03.450 So listen, what that means is you don't need 00:13:03.450 --> 00:13:06.190 to wait for your luck to change in order to start 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:08.730 being grateful. You don't need to win the race. 00:13:08.870 --> 00:13:11.629 You don't need to win the money before you can 00:13:11.629 --> 00:13:16.389 give thanks. You can give thanks right now as 00:13:16.389 --> 00:13:19.169 an act of faith, even if you don't have rich 00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:21.409 friends, right? Even if you don't have a good 00:13:21.409 --> 00:13:23.769 job, even if you're out of work, even if your 00:13:23.769 --> 00:13:26.090 girlfriend has left you, even if you're flunking 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:29.330 out of school, that is okay. You can still give 00:13:29.330 --> 00:13:33.009 thanks. Why? Because you have grace and you have 00:13:33.009 --> 00:13:37.350 Jesus. Gratitude is not tied to the ups and downs 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:39.350 of your life, to the wins and losses of your 00:13:39.350 --> 00:13:42.529 life. Instead, it is anchored to the faithfulness 00:13:42.529 --> 00:13:47.210 of God, which means this, that you can, in fact, 00:13:47.289 --> 00:13:51.389 be grateful even though you're running in last 00:13:51.389 --> 00:13:55.110 place. After that first lap, I have to tell you, 00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:56.750 I don't think that jockey looked particularly 00:13:56.750 --> 00:13:59.899 thankful. And when we were standing there on 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:02.700 the sidelines there, we didn't feel particularly 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:04.960 grateful in that moment. I know that we weren't. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:08.799 But gratitude isn't something you wait to feel 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:13.220 after you win. It's something you practice when 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:17.720 you're still in last place. Because Paul says, 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:21.549 he says, give thanks in... all circumstances 00:14:21.549 --> 00:14:24.169 now we need to talk about that little preposition 00:14:24.169 --> 00:14:29.429 in he does not say give thanks for everything 00:14:29.429 --> 00:14:34.090 but he says give thanks in everything it's it's 00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:36.090 not like we're supposed to celebrate and give 00:14:36.090 --> 00:14:37.990 thanks for all the bad things that might be happening 00:14:37.990 --> 00:14:41.940 to us but right in the middle of them There is 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:44.740 lots to be thankful for, and that is a very big 00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:46.799 difference. And I want to say, let's be honest, 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:49.500 there's plenty of things in our lives and in 00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:52.159 the world today that we are not thankful for, 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:55.820 right? We are not thankful for sickness. We are 00:14:55.820 --> 00:14:59.039 not thankful for job loss. We are not thankful 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:02.039 for heartbreak. We are not thankful for loneliness. 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:06.110 We are not thankful for family conflict. We're 00:15:06.110 --> 00:15:09.570 not thankful for this, you know, broken world 00:15:09.570 --> 00:15:12.529 that we see. But Paul says we can still give 00:15:12.529 --> 00:15:16.830 thanks in those moments, right in the thick of 00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:20.710 them, because even there, God is present and 00:15:20.710 --> 00:15:27.629 God is at work. After one lap, you know, counter 00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:30.110 currency was dead last. You could just feel like 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:32.690 the energy fading. I felt the energy fading. 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:38.559 But she kept running in last place. And there 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.820 are people here today who feel like they're in 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:45.500 last place. Some of you feel like you're financially 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:49.299 in last place. You're trying to stretch your 00:15:49.299 --> 00:15:51.700 paychecks and it just don't stretch anymore. 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:54.899 Some of you feel emotionally in last place. You're 00:15:54.899 --> 00:15:58.370 just exhausted emotionally. right? Some of us 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:02.269 feel relationally like we're in last place. We're 00:16:02.269 --> 00:16:05.710 carrying with us hurt or rejection or something 00:16:05.710 --> 00:16:07.629 like that. Some of us maybe even feel spiritually 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:10.149 like we're in last place. We can't remember the 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:14.190 last time that we felt close to God. And if you're 00:16:14.190 --> 00:16:18.149 honest, this whole language about gratitude is 00:16:18.149 --> 00:16:21.950 the wrong language for what you're feeling right 00:16:21.950 --> 00:16:26.539 now. Paul is not asking you to pretend to be 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:31.240 happy. Gratitude certainly does not ignore the 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:35.320 real problems that we are facing. But it opens 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.539 our eyes to see that God is still at work in 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.080 the middle of all that. So Paul is not saying 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:46.600 fake it. He is saying, can you find God in it? 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.480 You know, Eugene Peterson wrote this little book. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:52.159 In this book, he says this. He says, the mature 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:55.500 Christian is not thankful for suffering, but 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:59.860 thankful in suffering because he knows that God 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:04.380 is not yet finished with the story. So you see, 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:07.559 this is, I think, very fascinating. Being grateful 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.680 in difficult times is not denial. It's actually 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:15.690 defiance. It fights against the current. If faith 00:17:15.690 --> 00:17:18.450 and gratefulness is a way of saying, I may not 00:17:18.450 --> 00:17:21.470 be winning the race right now, but God is still 00:17:21.470 --> 00:17:24.990 with me in the race. I may be running in last 00:17:24.990 --> 00:17:29.089 place, but God's love, God's love has not fallen 00:17:29.089 --> 00:17:33.839 far behind me. It is choosing to see God's hand 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.319 in the hardship. It's choosing to see God's grace 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:40.480 in the grind. It's choosing to see God's mercy 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.319 in the mess of our lives. And maybe that is why 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.000 the early church clung so much to this verse. 00:17:47.099 --> 00:17:49.299 Because life for them was definitely not easy. 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:51.599 They faced persecution. They faced poverty. They 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.099 faced pressure. And Paul wanted them to know 00:17:54.099 --> 00:17:57.859 that gratitude is not reserved for the winner's 00:17:57.859 --> 00:18:01.950 circle. It is for the faithful people in the 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:04.730 midst of the struggle. And I can almost picture 00:18:04.730 --> 00:18:06.930 some of those early Christians gathering in homes 00:18:06.930 --> 00:18:10.750 with so little material blessings, and yet there 00:18:10.750 --> 00:18:14.289 they were giving thanks that God, not giving 00:18:14.289 --> 00:18:16.470 thanks for what they were suffering, but giving 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:19.930 thanks that God was near. And what they were 00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:23.170 doing is they were learning a lesson that we 00:18:23.170 --> 00:18:26.130 too need to learn, and that is that even in last 00:18:26.130 --> 00:18:30.839 place, God is still running the race with us. 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:34.900 Even in last place, the race isn't over yet. 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:37.819 I guarantee you after that first lap, a lot of 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:40.119 people were ready to tear up their slips on a 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:42.799 counter currency. There were lots of cheers for 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.440 the horses that were leading. There were not 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:47.119 many cheers for the horses that were behind. 00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:48.859 And certainly I think we were the only family 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:51.839 cheering for counter currency. Why were we cheering? 00:18:52.619 --> 00:18:56.720 It's because we were hoping. And we were believing 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:00.359 that there was more to come. And that's what 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.259 gratitude does. It cheers before the finish line. 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:07.640 It says, God, I want to thank you right here. 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:10.099 Not because I'm winning, but because you're still 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:13.359 running with me. And God, I know that you specialize 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:17.099 in come from behind wins. And God, you can take 00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:19.660 something that looks like a defeat and you can 00:19:19.660 --> 00:19:24.009 turn it into a victory. Now you might say, well, 00:19:24.069 --> 00:19:27.170 what do you mean by that? Well, look what Paul 00:19:27.170 --> 00:19:29.410 says. He says, give thanks in all circumstances. 00:19:29.710 --> 00:19:32.069 And then he says, for this is the will of God 00:19:32.069 --> 00:19:34.910 for you in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? 00:19:35.450 --> 00:19:38.289 Isn't that just Paul attacking on a nice sounding 00:19:38.289 --> 00:19:41.250 religious ending to a very famous piece of scripture? 00:19:41.390 --> 00:19:46.029 No, this is the reason you can give thanks in 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:49.549 all circumstances because of Christ Jesus, right? 00:19:49.670 --> 00:19:53.609 Our gratitude is not grounded in luck. Or in 00:19:53.609 --> 00:19:57.230 circumstance, our gratitude is not like grounded 00:19:57.230 --> 00:20:00.690 in optimism. It is grounded in a person. And 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:05.329 that person is Jesus Christ. So what that means 00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:08.809 is we don't give thanks to God because we think 00:20:08.809 --> 00:20:11.710 we're going to win in the end. We give thanks 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:15.490 because Jesus already did. You see, the cross 00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:20.190 looked like complete defeat, right? The ultimate 00:20:20.190 --> 00:20:23.890 last place. I mean, this was, the crowd had stopped 00:20:23.890 --> 00:20:26.930 cheering a long time ago. The disciples had left. 00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:30.849 I mean, 15 to 1 odds. Jesus had a billion to 00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:33.609 1 odds against him. It looked like his story 00:20:33.609 --> 00:20:37.349 was over. It looked like sin and evil and death 00:20:37.349 --> 00:20:40.509 were miles ahead of him. And if you were a betting 00:20:40.509 --> 00:20:43.250 person, you never would have put any money down 00:20:43.250 --> 00:20:48.210 on the crucified Messiah. But, like counter currency, 00:20:49.130 --> 00:20:52.670 God wins in ways that the world just doesn't 00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:56.069 seem coming. And three days later, God turned 00:20:56.069 --> 00:20:59.450 the scoreboard upside down and the tomb was empty 00:20:59.450 --> 00:21:03.970 and Jesus had risen from the dead. And that resurrection, 00:21:04.250 --> 00:21:07.990 it wasn't just like a comeback. It was a complete 00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:12.089 reversal, completely counter, completely counter 00:21:12.089 --> 00:21:14.829 to everything the world thought it knew about 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:19.789 success and winning and power and all that. Tim 00:21:19.789 --> 00:21:23.549 Keller wrote that the resurrection means that 00:21:23.549 --> 00:21:28.470 the worst thing, which is what? Death, is never 00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:32.369 the last thing. And God's grace can turn even 00:21:32.369 --> 00:21:36.490 apparent defeat into victory. God's grace can 00:21:36.490 --> 00:21:41.170 turn the last place horse, the long shot, into 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:47.089 a champion. What I want to say then is that the 00:21:47.089 --> 00:21:51.599 Christian life, I'm not just trying to propose 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.160 that Christian life is about wishful thinking. 00:21:54.839 --> 00:22:00.140 But it's actually about resurrection hope. Because 00:22:00.140 --> 00:22:04.140 life doesn't always work out. We don't always 00:22:04.140 --> 00:22:06.160 win the race. Sometimes we don't even finish 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.440 the race. Sometimes the marriage does not survive. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.460 Sometimes you lose the job. Sometimes the doctor 00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:18.200 calls and it is not good news. But resurrection 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:22.779 hope believes that God brings life even out of 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:29.119 death. Hope out of despair and victory out of 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:34.740 apparent defeat. Gratitude, therefore, is not 00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:38.640 pretending that we've won, but it's remembering 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.700 who has won. That's how we can give thanks in 00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:46.500 all circumstances because we know that... On 00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:49.819 our behalf, Jesus has already crossed the finish 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:53.559 line. And that we are standing not in our winner's 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:56.940 circle, but in his winner's circle as his followers. 00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:00.279 So I guess I just want to say that practically 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:04.099 what that means is even though life for you might 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.460 not feel like a victory, and if you're still 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:10.400 in the middle of difficulty and pain, we can 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:14.640 give thanks. When you... When you face grief, 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.839 say, over the loss of a loved one, you can still 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.740 whisper thanks because death doesn't get the 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:25.500 last word anymore. And if you're facing failure 00:23:25.500 --> 00:23:27.279 or you're thinking about some of the regrets 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.440 of your own life, you can still whisper thanks 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:35.039 because grace is greater than all your mistakes. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:39.200 And if you're in the midst of uncertainty, you 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:40.660 don't know where your life's going to go, you 00:23:40.660 --> 00:23:43.279 can still whisper thanks because... you know 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:46.519 your ultimate future is secure in Jesus Christ. 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:53.259 You know, when counter currency crossed the finish 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:58.220 line, we started to just cheer like crazy, right? 00:23:58.619 --> 00:24:02.519 And that's what resurrection does. It gives you 00:24:02.519 --> 00:24:06.119 reason to celebrate. Paul begins that whole passage 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:10.900 that Kevin read. He says, rejoice always. He's 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:14.200 saying, if you really believe this, if you really 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:16.980 know that God's goodness runs deeper than your 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.279 circumstances, if you know that resurrection 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:23.900 wins in the end, then your joy is going to be 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.880 the natural overflow of all that. And so no matter 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.539 what is going on for you today, today is a day 00:24:30.539 --> 00:24:34.579 of celebration. And not because all your prayers 00:24:34.579 --> 00:24:36.400 have been answered and not because all your problems 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:37.900 have been solved. We already talked about that. 00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:41.400 But because Jesus is alive. Which means that 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:45.519 hope is alive. And that is worth celebrating. 00:24:46.119 --> 00:24:49.180 I just want to ask you, how are you going to 00:24:49.180 --> 00:24:52.900 celebrate that today? You know, it's Thanksgiving, 00:24:52.980 --> 00:24:55.220 and normally we have these big Thanksgiving celebrations 00:24:55.220 --> 00:24:58.180 this weekend, which is great. I just want to 00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:00.440 tell you, your celebration does not have to be 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:04.339 big and fancy. I mean, after Arwen, we took 30 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:07.940 bucks and we went to Wendy's. And I still remember 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:10.039 sitting there with Sally and the girls, and I 00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:13.140 just remember, you know, eating the fries and 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.700 the Frosties and thinking, man, I'm so grateful. 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:19.380 This is so wonderful. It wasn't fancy, but it 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:23.660 was joyful. And that is something that gratitude 00:25:23.660 --> 00:25:26.980 does. Gratitude takes those ordinary moments 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:30.200 of your life, just the ordinary moments, and 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.960 makes them holy, makes them supercharged with 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:38.200 joy. It turns the Frosties into a feast, right? 00:25:38.299 --> 00:25:41.240 It takes the little that you have and it makes 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:44.420 it more than enough. And so maybe this Thanksgiving, 00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:46.480 you're not going home to carve a great big turkey. 00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:47.960 Maybe you're just going to be heating up leftovers. 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:50.200 And maybe this Thanksgiving, the table's not 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:51.779 going to be as full as you'd hoped. And maybe 00:25:51.779 --> 00:25:53.460 there are people missing from the table this 00:25:53.460 --> 00:25:56.519 year. And maybe your life this Thanksgiving doesn't 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:58.660 look anything like you hoped it would look a 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:03.019 year or two ago. But Thanksgiving, just remember, 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.970 it's not about... extravagance. It's just about 00:26:06.970 --> 00:26:10.329 being aware of what you've been given. You don't 00:26:10.329 --> 00:26:14.089 got to compete with Martha Stewart, right, to 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:16.130 celebrate Thanksgiving. All you need to know 00:26:16.130 --> 00:26:19.670 is what you've been given in Jesus Christ, and 00:26:19.670 --> 00:26:23.690 that is worth celebrating. Just in wrapping up, 00:26:23.789 --> 00:26:28.849 that's what we do when we come here to the table. 00:26:29.309 --> 00:26:31.609 uh every week i don't know if you guys know that 00:26:31.609 --> 00:26:35.609 the lord's supper was called the eucharist by 00:26:35.609 --> 00:26:39.269 the early church and the the word eucharist literally 00:26:39.269 --> 00:26:42.150 means thanksgiving and what we're going to have 00:26:42.150 --> 00:26:43.750 here does not look like much it's just a little 00:26:43.750 --> 00:26:46.829 bit of bread it's just a little bit of wine but 00:26:46.829 --> 00:26:49.829 what we're celebrating here is exactly what paul 00:26:49.829 --> 00:26:54.710 told us to do we are giving thanks in all circumstances 00:26:56.009 --> 00:26:58.630 You know, just think that it was on the night 00:26:58.630 --> 00:27:02.930 before Jesus' death, when betrayal was about 00:27:02.930 --> 00:27:07.410 to happen, when the odds were hopeless. He was 00:27:07.410 --> 00:27:10.829 about to be dead last, Jesus. He took bread, 00:27:10.890 --> 00:27:13.950 and he broke it, and he gave thanks. And then 00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:15.809 he lifted up a cup of wine, and he knew what 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:18.690 that wine symbolized, and he gave thanks again. 00:27:18.829 --> 00:27:24.859 Jesus, gratitude in last place. There's this 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:27.559 guy named Alexander Shmaimon who wrote this beautiful 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:30.799 book about communion. And he said that the Eucharist 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:36.799 is the revelation that life can be thanksgiving. 00:27:36.900 --> 00:27:40.440 That everything in creation can become communion 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:45.579 with God. Your whole life can be Eucharist. Your 00:27:45.579 --> 00:27:49.059 whole life can be thanksgiving. Because when 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:52.240 we live in Christ Jesus, when we see the world 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:55.779 through resurrection eyes, then every little 00:27:55.779 --> 00:28:00.500 moment is an opportunity for thanksgiving. So 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:05.099 today, let's be people who are grateful against 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:09.299 the odds. People who celebrate even when we're 00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:13.460 in last place. Some of you, you're probably leading 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:16.920 the pack. Others of us, we are limping behind. 00:28:17.740 --> 00:28:20.900 It doesn't matter whether you've got turkey and 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:23.299 stuffing, whether you've got fries and Frosties, 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:25.160 whether you're laughing or cheering or whether 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:27.619 you got a bit of a tear in your eye. Thank God 00:28:27.619 --> 00:28:33.220 for what you have in Jesus Christ. Because he 00:28:33.220 --> 00:28:39.819 is running this race with us. And the race isn't 00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:46.380 over yet. And Jesus has already crossed the finish 00:28:46.380 --> 00:28:51.490 line. Thanks be to God. Amen.